matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

Month: August 2022

In Praise of Pickle Soup

Monday 22 August 2022 | 0 Comments

Like an aspic or a bit of blood sausage, pickle soup is one of those dishes that initially makes people say, "Hold on, now -- are you sure that's a good idea?"

Pickles belong on hamburgers and other sandwiches. Some of us even like it on the once-a-year hot dog we might eat. Dill pickle is a good flavor for a chip, especially if you're already fond of sea salt and vinegar chips. You might skewer a pickle and bit of meat on a toothpick and call it an appetizer.

But in a soup?

Of course -- where else? Tangy and sour are notes that pair well with just about any other savory flavor.

Late August Sunday

Sunday 21 August 2022 | 0 Comments

Our Games

Saturday 20 August 2022 | 0 Comments

The Boy's first games with his new soccer team took place today. It was a tough start to the season: 0-4 and 0-5 losses. I was expecting him to be terribly disappointed about it, but he was surprisingly stoic: "We have some things we need to fix, but we could be good."

The Girl's high school varsity team, for which L plays middle, won their first tournament today.

A day of contrasts.

Belief Revisited

Friday 19 August 2022 | 0 Comments

It's a quote I've used twice here:

[Belief] may be the battle of your life, but emotionally and intellectually, it could also be the most exhilarating one you’ve ever engaged in. Whether you experience God’s reality or are just intellectually intrigued by the idea, God can be a very real force in peoples’ lives – spiritual, emotional, supportive – that almost no other system can offer. But you must gird yourself for a fight and know that you’re going to have to try to reconcile very difficult things. Or at least hold them in suspension and bounce them back and forth and get tired. There’s no quick fix, but we have the benefit of drawing on thousands of years of religious thinking. You can’t learn it over a weekend. It’s an engagement for the rest of your life.

Burton Visotzky

I originally included it while discussing Winifred Galligher's Working on God, in which it's originally quoted.

Belief

I also reposted the quote on its own a few years later, undoubtedly just to have an easy way out of keeping up some artificial posting streak:

Burton Visotzky

In some ways, I think I admired that quote, but now, I view it so very differently.

Visotzky writes that believers are "going to have to try to reconcile very difficult things. Or at least hold them in suspension and bounce them back and forth and get tired." I originally read this very ambiguously, not really thinking about what exactly one must reconcile. As I've returned to my skeptical positions of the past after a sojourn in faith, I see it simply: you're going to have to reconcile contradictions or ignore them. Contradictions between faith claims and scientific claims. Contradictions between various faiths' claims. Contradictions between claims of omnipotence and omnibenevolence and the evil we see around us. Contradictions within traditions' holy books. You might "get tired," he suggests. I think that's what happened to me: I got tired of the continual cognitive disonance.

Far from being a wise quote, I see this now as the dysfunctional heart of faith itself: it's seeing one thing that has an abundance of evidence and believing another that has little to no real evidence.

First Week

Thursday 18 August 2022 | 0 Comments

The first week is about to enter the books -- one week down, thirty-five to go. Some might view it that way, and some years it's tempting for me: when in the first week of school students are already being disrespectful and incorrigible, it's difficult not to think wistfully about the far-in-the-future summer. "It's going to be a long year," becomes the common thought.

But this year's first week is not like that at all. The Terrences and Teresas haven't appeared, haven't even shown a glimmer of appearing.

Kids staying focused, working together effectively, showing each other respect...

I know it's still the honeymoon period, but I can't help but be hopeful about this year.

My Favorite Part

Wednesday 17 August 2022 | 0 Comments

of the Biltmore house must undoubtedly be the main staircase from outside.

Helping Move

Wednesday 17 August 2022 | 0 Comments

Nana and Papa helping us move from Ashville to Greenville — fifteen years ago.

View from Sunday

Tuesday 16 August 2022 | 0 Comments

Perspective

Monday 15 August 2022 | 0 Comments

First Day 2022

Monday 15 August 2022 | 0 Comments

The Boy had a rough day of it: he's been in a multi-age classroom for four years, meaning he's been with the same group of people (mostly) for those four years. Fifth grade, though, doesn't have a multi-age program, so he's back out in the general population -- and none too thrilled about it. All his closest friends from the last four years -- all of them -- ended up in different classes. A few of them got grouped together, but none of them are in E's class. Which makes him less than thrilled about school after this first day.

We tried to help the Boy see things from a different perspective, but for the longest time, he just wasn't interested. It was going to be a disastrous year, he was sure of it. There was no way it could get better -- he was convinced. He might as well just switch to homeschool.

After some time in the pool and a lot of reassurance, he informed us on the way home that "all of Mama's speeches" had made him a little more excited about tomorrow.

As for the Girl, she sat down in the car after volleyball practice, looked at me, and said, "Guess what we have in English class?" I raised my eyebrows in anticipation. "Articles of the week!"

I've been giving my students an article of the week for almost ten years now. It's one of the most effective tools I use.

"Do you know what this is?" one of the Girl's friends asked her.

"Yes," she whispered back. "I've been grading them for years." Which is dramatic sounding, and it probably got a laugh, but it's not quite true. I've had her checking multiple choice questions, adding up the points, and using my scale to determine and write the grade on the paper, but that's not really grading them.

"Same difference!" L playfully huffed when I pointed this out.